a 14th century city fortress in a village between Milan
and the lake of Como

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Still
in renovation in April 2000 (paying for itself as it goes along), this ancient
testimonial to nasty urban politics is now an hotel and restaurant with a fair
amount of ambience.

The
castle dominates the village of Carimate, of course, which was the whole point
of the thing, and stepping out onto one's balcony (like ours, center left in the
photo on the right) you can almost imagine yourself as The
Pope addressing the weeping hysterical throngs of the faithful in front
of St. Peter's. Except that there aren't any throngs, the balcony window doesn't
open because a little more renovation's needed on this part, and
you aren't really holy enough yourownself. But never mind, it's fun imagining
anyway.

Kristin
telephotoically on the back terrace of the castle.

The
front gate over the (dry) moat; Kristin in the inner hall, April 2000

The inner
courtyard from our room. The old pile also functions as a popular free-standing
semi-gourmetish restaurant, so the old gatehouse gets a lot of traffic, especially
on weekends.

Carimate,
the Postcard!

Beautiful
downtown Carimate from our room. An excellent brief vacation from this centrally-located
spot, in fact -- boat rides on Lake Como and a hike round Lecco, and the usual
rewarding cultural tours of Milan, the cathedral and the Brea museum of art (a
favorite) -- as ever, northern Italy and the lakes region help to revivify one's
ebbing faith in the prospects for humanity in the throes of its present, astonishingly-quick
'race to the bottom' of popular culture.

Ivrea,
October 1997

Marlowe,
then just a kid, near a semi-renovated castle above the foot of the Aosta valley
where it debouches into the plain of the Po between Turin and Milan, 1997.

Some
parts may be easier to renovate than others.

Emily and Marlowe

The
semi-renovated castle is now a semi-renovated hotel, from which over 3 or 4 days
delightful day trips into Milan are perfectly plausible.

Milan
cathedral, not bad work at all for medieval savages. (The highway bridge in downtown
Montreal just collapsed without warning, but the Milan cathedral just keeps on
thrusting up there somewhere.)